Every time you suffer a narrow defeat in cricket, it hurts. And it is said that cricket is cruel. And whatever it is said, when you get close to victory, you have to say, how far away it is.

Nepal suffered a similar narrow 4-run defeat against England in their match in Mumbai in the Twenty20 World Cup. Needing 6 runs off the last two balls, Nepal could not achieve even that.

Most of the approximately 17,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium were Nepalis. It would have been better if they were not English supporters. Nepal's opponent was England, who had won this World Cup twice before. And the team was performing best in Twenty20 cricket recently. Jack Wills, the team's leading player, said at the end of the match, 'I cannot praise the Nepali team enough. Nepal's performance in this match was good in all areas.'

He meant that Nepal's batting was good, bowling was good and fielding was even better. Moreover, 'running with the wicket' was very good. But his conclusion was, ‘In cricket, the most important thing is experience. The way Sam Curran bowled in the last over, this victory is credited to him. He has a lot of experience in bowling well in such difficult situations.’ Meanwhile, he also tried to establish an issue and that was special from the perspective of Nepali cricket.

Wills said, ‘Now there is not much difference between the Test and associate teams. Especially in Twenty20 cricket, it is not even more so. After this game, we felt relief. As the game was approaching the end, I was feeling pressure, I was also a little nervous. The game itself was very ups and downs. Sometimes England was strong, sometimes Nepal was strong. But in the end, what we needed was victory. We managed to achieve that. Such a victory brings even more happiness.'

It has only been the second day of the World Cup, but the message it wants to give is that no team will be able to sit back and relax thinking they are strong. This has been Wills' analysis based on the matches so far. He also presented examples of two matches on the first day. In the match held at the Wankhede Stadium, the United States had a hard time against the defending champion and host country India. Batting first, India was under intense pressure at one point.

Similarly, in the match against Ireland, Pakistan managed to pull out a victory from a seemingly certain defeat. After a single over, the win-loss equation was turned in Pakistan's favor. In such a situation, the question has become clear, is the level of cricket between the so-called big teams in world cricket and an emerging country like Nepal declining? Maybe to some extent, but not.

After the match, Nepal's Nandan Yadav appeared before the international media with a confident voice. He said, 'It is difficult for us to answer this question right now. We still have a lot of work to do. Nepal still has a lot of responsibility to do in red-ball cricket. We still have a lot of cricket to play.' At the beginning of the tournament, Nepali team captain Rohit Poudel had also said that Nepal has defeated the West Indies, and came close to winning against Bangladesh and South Africa and lost.

So now Nepal will try to win against a Test-recognized team. The team itself is capable of this. The first match against England has become another example of this. Nandan was right in the end, defeat against England also teaches a lesson. He said, 'Even if we lost today's match, we are proud of the way we played. Even after this match, we still have the possibility of reaching the Super Eight.' We will work harder for that.'

World stars praising Nepal

Nepal lost to England in the Twenty20 World Cup, but even in this defeat, veteran players of world cricket have praised the performance of the Nepali team. Among them, South African legendary bowler Dale Steyn is among those who congratulated Nepal. He wrote in X, 'If Nepali cricket needs me, I will be ready.' According to Steyn, Nepali cricket is only going up and up.

Nandan Yadav, who represented the Nepali team, was asked about this in the post-match conference organized immediately after the game. In response, Nandan said, 'He is one of the great players of South Africa, he played excellently in international cricket for more than 10 years. He wants to join the Nepali team, that is a happy thing, but it is not in our hands, only the Nepal Cricket Association can decide about this.'

Former Indian star Yuvraj Singh is also among those who openly praised the Nepali team. He wrote in X, ‘I have high respect for Nepal. Even when playing against the best team in the world, they kept on giving their all till the last ball. It shows what happens when you play with discipline and heart. This is how a team moves forward and becomes a champion team. World cricket is watching.’

Former Indian player Mohammad Kaif has said that if Nepal had won, it would have been an unexpected result like the height of the Himalayas. He wrote in X, ‘Nepal was one stroke away from defeating England, where cricket started.’ Munaf Patel also wrote in X that Nepali cricket has done very well. Commentator Harsh Bhogal also wrote that Nepal has won the hearts of many, but the defeat was painful. According to him, Nepal’s performance was excellent in itself.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said that it was a win-win situation for England and wrote, ‘What an exciting game of cricket. The playing skills shown by Nepali players are unique in themselves.’